419er seeks Reg reader for IM romance

A Yahoo! brief encounter

Common Topics

Our recent revelation that Nigerian 419ers had invaded Skype chat provoked a US reader to recount a brief encounter on Yahoo! IM with one blonde, 22-year-old model from London (Hobbies: dancing, etc, etc, according to her profile). Both IM handles have been changed to protect the innocent and the, well, see what you make of it:

*** lassfromlagos has blocked your attempt to add him/her to your contact list: "talk to me"
me: Hello
lassfromlagos: hi
lassfromlagos: how are u ?
me: not too bad, you?
lassfromlagos: i'm cool
lassfromlagos: I love ur pic
me: Thanks, which one?
lassfromlagos: on yahoo personals
me: Ah, ok. cool, I have some facial hair now, I can't remember if I put my new pic on there or not
lassfromlagos: oh ok.great
lassfromlagos: have u seen my pic
me: No, not yet
lassfromlagos: oh ok.
lassfromlagos: [Sends link to Yahoo! profile]
lassfromlagos: click here for my pic
lassfromlagos: <ding>
me: Cool, great pic ( :
me: Where at in the UK do you live?
lassfromlagos: London,UK
lassfromlagos: i'm a model
lassfromlagos: what work do u do ?
me: I'm a systems administrator for a software company
me: I work with computers
lassfromlagos: great
lassfromlagos: i'm single pretty
lassfromlagos: u ?
me: yeah
lassfromlagos: I'll love to see you when i get to usa
me: oh, you coming to visit near me?
me: or somewhere else in the us?
lassfromlagos: sure
lassfromlagos: I applied for a modelling job in New mexico.They want to pay me $4000 with a usa money orders.can u help me cash the money orders in the Bank ?
me: hahahahah
me: oh man
me: you've got to be kidding
lassfromlagos: i'm serious...

Hmmm. Of course, it's entirely possible that this single, 22-year-old from London who likes dancing really does have a modelling assignment in New Mexico and money order trouble. After all, her very enthusiastic response to the revelation that our would-be mugu works with computers has a decided ring of authenticity about it. But then again... nah, this is a load of cobblers.

The moral: beware IM temptresses bearing gifts. You have been warned. ®